The least that can be said about Jordan is
that its landscape is varied and fascinating
: romantic valleys, softly rolling green hills, bizarre salt deposits from
the Dead Sea and the crystal clear water of the Red Sea with its
fascinating coral reefs and its animal life that makes the heart of every
diver beat faster.
Jordan largely thanks its historical and cultural
importance to its situation on the
crossroads of two areas : on the hand there is the
Mediterranean hilly region in the west, on the other hand there is the
desert area which has a mountainous center and which changes into a plain
that consists partly of volcanic rock and partly of granite. Also on the
cultural level, Jordan is separated since ancient times in two spheres :
the western fertile areas have always been home to farmers, whereas the
plains in the east were mainly inhabited by Bedouins. Both regions are
separated by the Jordan valley with its remarkable topographic situation.
It belongs to a large tectonic fault line which stretches from the
Lebanese Bekaa-valley to Eastern Africa. In the central Jordanian part
lies the Dead Sea, 392 meters under
sea level, deeper than any other dry area on earth. South of this
extremely salty interior sea ( with 30% salt) the rift of the Jordan
continues into the Wadi Araba, a dry valley that lies nested in-between
the Negev plateau (in the west) and the mountain range of Moab (in the
east). South of Petra the Djebel Mubrak, rises to an altitude of 1727
meters.
The length of Jordan from north to south is 380 km and the width from east
to west is about 400 km. Jordan borders Syria in the north, Iraq in the
northeast, Saudi Arabia in the south and the east, and Israel in the west.
The capital of Jordan is the city of
Amman. Other important cities (which
are very often tourist sites) : Aqaba, Petra, Um Quais.
(Information courtesy of the Jordan
Tourist Board).
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